Spray-gun cleaners

ABSTRACT

An arrangement for cleaning paint spray-guns by use of a small tank or vat with a confining hood at its top which is divided into a plurality of laterally disposed compartments by means of vertical partitions which extend downwardly from the top of the tank into a body of liquid chemical solvent or thinner, which floats above a body of water at the bottom of the tank. The partitions extend through the body of solvent and partially into the mass of water. A horizontal cover or shelf at the top of the tank separates the main portions of the hood compartments therefrom, leaving a communicating passage between each tank and hood compartment at the rear end of the latter. An opening in the shelf at the front thereof in each compartment permits an operator to insert the suction tube of the spray-gun into successive compartments for scavenging the spray-gun with successively cleaner masses of solvent as the gun is directed towards the rear of the hood, without discharging the paint impurities and thinner into the atmosphere. The impurities drop to the bottom of the tank into the body of water, for periodic removal, with or without the cleaning solvent.

United States Patent Dinerman Sept. 9, 1975 1 SPRAY-GUN CLEANERS [76]Inventor: David Dinerman, 304 Brandywine 1 1 CT Savannah 31405 Anarrangement for cleaning paint spray-guns by use [22] Fil d; A 3, 1974of a small tank or vat with a confining hood at its top [52] U.S. C1.134/88; 134/102; 134/109; 134/171, 134/182; 134/201 [51] Int. CL' B08B3/00; B0813 9/00 [58] Field of Search 134/84, 88, 92, 102, 94,134/104,109,171,172,182, 134/183, 201; 401/137 [56] References CitedUNITED STATES PATENTS 1,979,241 ll/1934 Albancsc ct a1. 134/201 UX2,245,892 6/1941 Anschicks et 134/201 2,569,125 9/1951 Costantino134/109 X 2,726,667 12/1955 Wigmorc 134/102 2,745,418 5/1956 Balcom cta1. 134/102 2,948,285 8/1960 Poe ct a1 134/102 3,691,577 9/1972 Bliss134/172 X 3,771,539 11/1973 De Santis 134/102 X Primary Examiner-RobertL. Bleutge I Attorney, Agenl, 0r Firm-Samuel Lebowitz which is dividedinto a plurality of laterally disposed compartments by means of verticalpartitions which extend downwardly from the top of the tank into a bodyof liquid chemical solvent or thinner, which floats above a body ofwater at the bottom of the tank. The partitions extend through the bodyof solvent and partially into the mass of water. A horizontal cover orshelf at the top of the tank separates the main portions of the hoodcompartments therefrom, leaving a communicating passage between eachtank and hood compartment at the rear end of the latter. An opening inthe shelf at the front thereof in each compartment permits an operatorto insert the suction tube of the spray-gun into successive compartmentsfor scavenging the spray-gun with successively cleaner masses of solventas the gun is directed towards the rear of the hood, without dischargingthe paint impurities and thinner into the atmosphere. The impuritiesdrop to the bottom of the tank into the body of water, for periodicremoval, with or without the cleaning solvent.

5 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures This invention relates to an arrangement forCleaning paint'spray-guns which' is simple in constructionand inoperation.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a rugged shop toolof low cost "for operation wherever paint spray-guns are used, forexample, in automobile repair and paint shops, so that the'spray-gunsmay be cleaned quickly and effectively to permit their continuous usefor spraying paints of different colors without objectionable mixing orvariation of the latter.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a compact paintspray-gun cleanerinstallationwhich occupies a minimum amount of space in a shop, and which permits the sprayguns to be cleaned ,without harmfuleffects to the operators, and with the most efficient and economicalutilization of the cleaning solvents. l I v i It is a further object ofthe invention'to provide a paint spray-gun cleaning-apparatus whichminimizes fire and environmental hazards. I

Other objects and purposes will appear from the detailed description ofthe invention following hereinafter, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, wherein FIG. 1 is a perspective view of apreferred embodiment of the spray-gun cleaner in accordance with theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of FIG. 1 with part of the front wall brokenaway to illustrate the interior thereof;

FIG. 3 is a top view of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a left end view of FIG. 3 with a spray-gun in position forcleaning in accordance with the invention.

The drawings illustrate a spray-gun cleaner installation which consistsessentially of a tank or vat V with a superposed hood H.

The unit is preferably formed of sheet metal, having a bottom 1, backand front walls 2 and 3, respectively, and end walls 4. The top 12 ofthe hood merges with the back wall 2 by way of a curved portion 13. Acover or shelf 5 extends transversely from the upper edge of the frontwall 3 and extends to a rear edge 7 which is displaced from the backwall 2, by the open passage 8. Vertical partitions l and 11 extend fromthe top wall 12 downwardly through the hood and into the tank for mostof its depth, which serves to subdivide both the hood and the tank intothree compartments C, C and C. The cleaner unit may be subdivided into alesser or greater number of compartments.

Circular openings 6 are provided in the cover in 1 each compartment.adjacent to the front of the apparams, to permit a spray-gun G to beinserted successively into the respective compartments, with the suctiontube T of the gun projecting into one of the circular openings 6, withthe spray-nozzle end directed towards the curved wall portion 13 of theunit.

The tank is filled with a body of water W to a depth above the bottomedges of the partitions l0 and l l, and a liquid chemical solvent orthinner S is poured into the container which floats above the water W,and which extends to a level slightly below the shelf 5, so that ineffect the container V and hood H are subdivided into a plurality ofcompartments having a common body of water at the bottom and masses ofliquid solvent or thinner floating" in eachof the compartments above thebody of water! In order to clean a spray-gun quickly and effici'ently,

the spray-gun is inserted into the first hood C with its suction tubepassing through the hole 6 in shelf 5 and penetrating the body ofsolvent'or thinner. The paint in the is scavenged by direc'tin'giitagainst the concavely curved rear portion of the hood, wherefrom thesolvent and paint impurities drop through the passage 8 beyond the edge7of the cover to the mass of solvent in the first co'mpartrnentC' Afterseveral discharges of the thinned paint in thespraygun, the latter isinserted intothe hood C and'the operation isrepeated, which acts tofurther clean the interior of the gun with a cleaner body of thesolvent, with the relatively fewer impurities dropping into the mass ofsolvent in the second compartment," and which eventually drops assediment into the body of water W. The final cleaning of the spray-gunis executed in the third compartment C in the same. manner as the twoprevious operations, so that the final c'leaning results in acornpletely clean spray-gun which can be usedwith paint of an entirelydifferent color, without" any intermixtu re of "color shades I V 'Themode of operation described above results in a tremendous saving ofchemical solvent over the practices used heretofore where the solventwas sucked into the spray-gun from cups orjars and sprayed into theatmosphere. The desirability of the elimination of dangers from fire andtoxic permeation of the atmosphere is obvious. Not only does thearrangement salvage all of the solvent for re-use, but the cleaning maybe executed in a very short period of time. After a substantial periodof use of the solvent the same may be disposed of, as by pouring offtogether with the water, and the container may be filled with a newbatch of the materials.

The assembly in accordance with the invention, with no moving parts, maybe fabricated at low cost and has a long operative life. The sizethereof may be varied in dependence upon the size of the shop and thenumber of spray-guns which require cleaning in the operation thereof.Thus, an apparatus for a small paint shop may assume approximately thesize of a breadbox, for example, 12 inches in length, 6 inches in widthand 10 inches in depth, with a superposed hood of 4 inches.

Additional refinements may be applied to the installation if thequantity of solvent is large, and it is desired to effect savings inthis area. Thus, the body of water with the paint sediment therein maybe decanted by means of a petcock at the bottom of the tank, which maybe fitted with sloping walls to permit this to be done more easily.Furthermore, the tank may be fitted with a sight-glass on the exterior,to render visible the interface between the body of water at the bottomand supernatant solvent above it.

Of course, the contours of the tank may be varied to adapt the apparatusto different needs. Also, in some shops, where the work is of a roughnature, a tank subdivided into two compartments may prove adequate toprovide a single finishing flush after an initial rough scavenging. Onthe other hand, as stated above, more than three compartments may beprovided for executing a larger number of cleanings with successivelycleaner solutions. If desired, the dimensions of the compartments may bevaried to accommodate different volumes of thinning liquids in therespective compartments, in which case it would be preferable to allot alarger volume to the first compartment C.

I lclaim:

1; An apparatus for cleaning paint-spray guns, comprising a. a tankadapted to be supported on a bench or frame and constituted essentiallyby a closed container for receiving a body of water in the lower portionthereof with a supernatant layer of liquid chemical solvent in the upperportion thereof,

b. an enclosing hood across the top of the tank which is open at thefront and closed at the rear whereat it merges with said container,covering means at the upper portion of the tank above the level of theliquid solvent having openings adjacent to the front edge at the openend of said hood, said covering means terminating short of the rear ofthe hood and tank to provide a passage therebetween,

d. at least one vertical partition extending from the front to the backof said tank substantially fromthe top to a point above the bottomthereof, and below the interface between the water and supernatantchemical solvent, to divide the tank into a plurality of compartmentswith one of said openings in each with progressively cleaner bodies ofthe solvent,'

which fall through said passage while the paint particles settle in thebottom of said tank in the body of water, for eventual removal.

2.,An apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the hood at the top ofthe container above the passage therebetween is curved concavely todirect the paint impurities and thinner downwardly. V

3. An apparatus as set forth in claim 2, provided with two verticalpartitions to divide the tank into three compartments.

4. An apparatus as set forth in claim 3, wherein the A verticalpartitions are spaced equidistantly with respect to the ends of the tankto divide the tank into compartments of equal volume.

5. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the vertical partitionin the tank extends upwardly into the enclosing hood.

1. AN APPARATUS FOR CLEANING PAINT-SPRAY GUNS, COMPRISING A. A TANKADAPTED TO BE SUPPORTED ON A BENCH OR FRAME AND CONSTITUTED ESSENTIALLYBY A CLOSED CONTAINER FOR RECEIVING A BODY OF WATER IN THE LOWER PORTIONTHEREOF WITH A SUPERNATANT LAYER OF LIQUID CHEMICAL SOLVENT IN THE UPPERPORTION THEREOF, B. AN ENCLOSING HOOD ACROSS THE TOP OF THE TANK WHICHIS OPEN AT THE FRONT AND CLOSED AT TE REAR WHEREAT IT MERGES WITH SAIDCONTAINER, C. COVERING MEANS AT THE UPPER PORTION OF THE TANK ABOVE THELEVEL OF THE LIQUID SOLVENT HAVING OPENINGS ADJACENT TO THE FRONT EDGEAT THE OPEN END OF SAID HOOD, SAID COVERING MEANS TERMINATING SHORT OFTHE REAR OF THE HOOD AND TANK TO PROVIDE A PASSAGE THEREBETWEEN D. ATLEAST ONE VERTICAL PARTITION EXTENDING FROM THE FRONT TO THE BACK OFSAID TANK SUBSTANTIALLY FROM THE TOP TO A POINT ABOVE THE BOTTOMTHEREOF, AND BELOW THE INTERFACE BETWEEN THE WATER AND SUPERNATANTCHEMICAL SOLVENT, TO DIVIDE THE TANK INTO A PLURALITY OF COMPARTMENTSWITH ONE OF SAID OPENINGS IN EACH COMPARTMENT, E. SAID OPENINGS IN SAIDCOVERING MEANS ADAPTED TO RECEIVE SUCCESSIVELY THE SUCTION SUPPLY TUBEOF A SPRAY GUN FOR PENETRATION INTO SAID BODY OF SOLVENT TO ENABLE THESPRAYING OF THE RESIDUAL PAINT IN THE GUN INTO THE COMPARTMENT PORTIONSOF THE HOOD WITH PROGRESSIVELY CLEANER BODIES OF THE SOLVENT, WHICH FALLTHROUGH SAID PASAGE WHILE THE PAINT PARTICLESSETTLE IN THE BOTTOM OFSAID TANK IN THE BODY OF WATER, FOR EVENTUAL REMOVAL.
 2. An apparatus asset forth in claim 1, wherein the hood at the top of the container abovethe passage therebetween is curved concavely to direct the paintimpurities and thinner downwardly.
 3. An apparatus as set forth in claim2, provided with two vertical partitions to divide the tank into threecompartments.
 4. An apparatus as set forth in claim 3, wherein thevertical partitions are spaced equidistantly with respect to the ends ofthe tank to divide the tank into compartments of equal volume.
 5. Anapparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the vertical partition in thetank extends upwardly into the enclosing hood.